Bear and a horror movie

“Hey, guys.” Chloe smiled and parked her bike against the wall of the bear's cave. She took off her bike helmet and let it hang on the handlebars.

Panda poked his head out from the couch and waved back. “Oh, hi Chloe.”

She smiled and climbed onto the couch, taking her seat behind him. Panda was scrolling through his phone, likely looking for another online date, though by the look of disappointment on his face he wasn’t having much fun. “So where are your brothers?” The Korean girl asked, looking around.

“Oh, they went out to get some groceries,” Panda replied. “So what brings you here?” Aren’t you normally doing your homework at this time.”

“Actually,” Chloe rubbed the back of her head nervously. “I was wondering if you could help me with my homework.”

“Oh, um sure. I can try.” Panpan chuckled, attempting to sound casual. He rubbed his paws to keep them from sweating. Chloe was the smartest person he knew, if she was having problems answering something then it must have been challenging. Besides, Ice Bear was the smart one. “What do you need me to do?”

In response, Chloe set her backpack down and started to dig around it until she produced a DVD. She handed it to him and found it hard to look him in the eye. Panda frowned and looked at the DVD, it had the title Paranormal Activity on it.

“Hey wait for Chloe, isn’t this a horror movie?” And one of the scariest movies ever made? He wanted to add. Grizz and Ice Bear had tried to get him to watch it with him a few time, but each time he could barely make it past the half hour mark before hiding under his blanket with Mr. Penguin.

“Ya. It's for my paranormal study class.” She explained, in spite of her best efforts, she couldn’t help but shudder. On her face, she had the same expression of doubt and fear that Panda had seen far too often. “We’re supposed to watch it and write a paper afterward. I was wondering if you guys could watch it with me cause-

“Cause you're scared?” He said the unspoken explanation. Seeing her jerk her head Panda relaxed. At the very least he wasn’t alone.

Panda looked at the movie uncertainty. He’s never heard of such a class before or how important it was, but then again he’s never been to college so he decided not to press it. “Alright let's do this.”

Looking a lot more heartened, Chloe gave him a wide smile as he set the DVD player and placed the movie in.


The two of them jumped back as the Ouija board caught fire. Panda tried to keep his breathing steady as his heart pounded rapidly. He glanced towards Chloe who was now trembling in fear underneath her hood which was pulled over her face.

“M-maybe we should take a little break?” He remarked and scooted around the couch, looking for the remote.

She nodded and pulled the remote out from between the couch cushions and paused it. “Hey look we’ve only got….a long way to go?” She sighed and set the remote down. Chloe pulled her feet up on the couch and hugged the cushion.

“Why don’t you just read the summary of the movie online?” Panda suspected that this might be cheating but looking at her once again it was clear that neither of them could really take any more.

“No.” She said a bit too insistently. “We have to do this, it’s almost done anyway.”

“Chloe I know you care about intellectual honesty, but you don’t need to scare yourself for life in order to get a good grade-”

“It's not for school.” She blurted out loudly. “I mean it is, but it's not for any projects.”

Panda frowned. “What do you mean? What is this for then?”

Chloe seemed to be thinking of an answer before looking down in defeat. “Everyone in class is always talking about these movies and I’m always left out. So I thought that if I watched one I could be able to join in. I’m sorry I made you watch this.”

He stared at Chloe in surprise. His anger and annoyance being replaced by sympathy. “Hey don’t be upset, I understand how you feel.” Panda pulled her into an awkward hug.

“You do?” She looked at him in surprise.

“Of course.” He smiled and patted her head. “You don’t think my brothers have things in common that make me feel left out? They’ve watched this movie like a dozen times already without me. I suppose I never watch with them cause I’m scared too.” He added the last part rather quietly.

“Well, what do you do about it?”

“I remember that they’re my brother and that they’ll accept me even if I don’t like the same things as they do.”

“Thanks, Panda.” She smiled and turned the movie off. “Wanna watch something else? Adventure Time maybe?”

Panda chuckled and relaxed on the couch as the show theme song started to play. “Sure.”

Chloe sat down and let herself relax while Panda got to his feet and disappeared into the kitchen to make some popcorn. The theme song of the show started to play when he came back with a large bowl of popcorn. “Did I miss anything?”

“Nah it's just starting. Come on.” She gestured for Panda to sit.

The two of them sat there and watched TV for the next hour or so, sharing laughs. But there was an underlying tension between them. Occasionally one or both of them would glance down towards the DVD of Paranormal Activity.

Eventually, as the episode stopped Panda reached out for it again and looked it over. “So, Paranormal activity huh?” He set it back down. “What do your classmates see in this?”

She laughed. “I don’t know. Crazy right.”

They both start to chuckle nervously. “D-do you want to find out?” Panda asked.

“A bit.” She said biting her lip.

Before either of them knew it they were curled up into blanket burritos, flinching and screaming loudly as the movie started to play again.


“Hey, Panpan we’re home,” Grizz shouted as he pushed the door open with his foot, both hands carrying grocery bags. Ice bear followed after him with the rest of the food.

He pointed at the TV. “Ice Bear sees Paranormal Activity.”

“Oh yeah,” Grizz noted and set his stuff down on the kitchen counter before heading to the TV. He spotted a lump on the couch that was hidden underneath his blanket. “Hey bro, why are you watching this I thought you hate this movie?”

The blanket fell over his head to reveal Panda hugging Mr. Penguin tightly while Chloe, in turn, was clinging tightly onto Panda. “Oh, hi Chloe,” Grizz said. “Why are you guys watching this movie?”

The two of them looked up and blinked as the scene cut to black and the credits started to roll. “We did it!” Chloe gasped in surprise.

Panda cheered in triumph. “We got through the movie. At last.”

Grizz was about to tell them that it doesn’t really count when they were hiding under a bed but he felt a hand touch his shoulder. “Ice bear thinks we should let them have their moment.”

He took a head back and smiled as the pair hugged each other and were hopping in the air. “Ya, I guess you're right.”